Friday, November 19, 2010

So, I took the plunge last week and bought myself the shirt I was gushing over in the previous post. It arrived on my doorstep yesterday, and upon gleefully opening the package like a giddy schoolboy on Christmas morning, I can say that this shirt rates a hearty and well-deserved "Meh."

While it looks lovely in pictures on ThinkGeek's site, it's not quite so alluring in the flesh, so to speak. What the pictures fail to make clear is how much the detachable "decal" stands out from the shirt itself. It's a rectangular, semi-glossy, 7" x 5" (-ish) plastic placard - not so much a "decal" - that looks like it belongs on the front of a t-shirt about as much as it would look like it belongs stuck to one's forehead. It really is that obtrusive.

To make matters worse, the battery pack was much larger than I hoped. As advertised, it holds three AAA batteries, but it is by no means slim and easy to conceal, totaling about twice the size of the battery bay itself. And it's heavy. Fully stocked with batteries, it's not easily hidden, as it would pull down the fabric if kept in the "small pocket sewn inside the shirt." (I'm guessing that's why it features a belt clip - I honestly can't imagine anyone wearing this shirt with that relatively large battery pack concealed within. It would look ludicrous.)

All told, I was completely underwhelmed. I guess the technology for this sort of shirt hasn't reached the point yet where it can be combined with clothing of this sort to form a truly wearable, fashionable piece of apparel.

On the upside, the "decal" is detachable, and the battery pack and wiring are removable - allowing for transplantation of the nifty wi-fi signal detector onto items more suitable to the unit's relative bulk and prominence. I'm thinking it might serve better adorning my canvas book bag, or perhaps stuck to a laptop cover - I'm not sure yet where I'm going to put it. I'm quietly awaiting a moment of inspiration. (The shirt, at this point, is a loss - without the "decal" the velcro-like material and hole for the connector are plainly visible. Unless I stick something to its front to hide these.)

I wouldn't recommend that anyone buy this shirt (or any of the similar "Interactive T-Shirts") until the price comes down a bit more or the technology reaches the point where it isn't such a detriment to the shirts' appearance. (Unless, like me, you plan to scrap the shirt and use the interactive placards elsewhere. Or unless, unlike me, you are so jazzed about the idea of wearing an interactive shirt that the fashion disaster created by the unattractive placard and bulky battery pack doesn't bother you.)

Also in my order was TG's "Critical Hit LED" twenty-sider. The die is awkwardly large - but this was to be expected, as it's measurements are provided on TG's site. Regardless, I'm hoping to get some actual at-the-table use out of it - if I ever get the chance to play again. (I haven't gamed in months, and since the move a month-and-a-half ago, I'm without a group. *frown*) The die seems to roll without bias (amazingly) and - as advertised - flashes red when a natural 20 is rolled. If you don't mind its bulk, I'd recommend it - at the current price ($9.99 US) it's not too expensive to make it a gimmicky toy worth adding to the dice collection of the discerning tabletop gamer.

Quote of the Week

"To me one of the best parts of DMing is that you get a chance to build all sorts of fun static pieces like monsters, dungeons, wilderness environs and then you let players loose on them to see what happens. Usually it involves watching your toys getting broken, but hopefully the players do an interesting job of wrecking your precious creations."

Order of the d30

Since I bought my first d30's with the Armory's book of d30 tables several decades ago when they first came out (back when they were numbered 0 to 9, three times - none of this fancy 1 to 30 business!), I figure I can claim membership in this Order!